It was a game that had been anticipated almost since the first day of the season.

The Woodhaven and Saline soccer teams knew there was a good shot the teams would meet in a district matchup and with the talent in both teams, it was a game that could have gone either way.

But state-ranked Saline was not quite ready for their season to come to an end and knocked the Warriors out of the MHSAA state playoff run with a 3-0 victory.

It was Woodhaven’s first loss of the season.

“We definitely had some things that didn’t go our way,” Woodhaven Coach Scott Hoye said. “We had a couple plays that we thought we had a good plays and didn’t get the respect we deserved from the refs in the game, but it happens.”

The Hornets got on board early, made some adjustments at the half to keep possession and a goal with just over a minute to go iced the win.

Saline Coach Dana Restrick said she knew the matchup was two of the more high profile teams in the district and while it was a bit strange for two turf teams to play on a grass field, she was pleased with the efforts.

“We really kind of answered the call today,” she said. “They’re a very, very good team and one of the more dangerous attacking teams that we’ve seen and we kind of expected that and wanted to just take advantage of the opportunities at the other end.

“That’s what we worked on, and I think we executed that well.”

Molly O’Sullivan put the Hornets on the board with just under six minutes gone by.

The early lead was huge for Saline.

“It kind of changes things and sometimes that wakes the other team up and that’s why they were on the attack a lot because they knew what the situation was early,” Restrick said. “But you get that second goal and you can breathe a little bit and then the last one.”

Taylor Mulder accounted for all the second half scoring. Eight and a half minutes in, she booted one in for a 2-0 lead, and while Woodhaven had the scoring changes, Mulder’s hard shot from the right with just over a minute to go sealed the win.

Restrick was pleased with her team’s changes in the second half to secure the win.

“We wanted to settle down,” she said. “We wanted to posses and get the ball off our foot a little bit quicker.

“I think we didn’t have enough of that in the first half; we weren’t finding feet and we weren’t moving the ball like we usually do. We did a better job of that in the second half.”

Despite the loss, Hoye was thrilled with his team’s efforts on the season.

“Overall, I told the girls; it’s the pride they play for,” he said. “They represented Woodhaven proud this year. They’re emotionally upset (and) they should be. The first loss of the year definitely is crushing, but it was a very evenly matched game.”

Hoye said the loss will leave a sour taste in his team’s mouth, but also said he cannot be disappointed on the season as a whole.

“Overall, the girls had a great season,” he said. “They played as a team (and) they played champions, lie they were in the Downriver League.

“I’m very proud of them. It’s been a great year.”

The team will graduate five talented seniors in a week, but Hoye isn’t worried.

“They’re extremely strong and it filters down to the rest of the team,” he said about his seniors. “They all play for each other and all apologized to one another, so that’s being a true team

“They’re gonna come back; they’re family. They’re gonna help us out when we do trainings and everything else.”

Hoye said his team’s brand of soccer improved this season and his is only excited about what they future will be as it improves.

“We’ll definitely miss the seniors that are leaving,” he said. “They’ve been a big help to the program, but going forward, we’ve got a lot of talent coming up.

“This will taste bad for a year and then we’ll try to change it.”

With the win the Hornets will move on to play Monroe in Saturday’s district championship.

“It’s a known opponent,” Restrick said. “We’ve seen them before and it ended up 1-0.

“I think we kind of know what to expect and Monroe knows what to expect from us and we’ll both go in with our plans and see what happens.”